


the sparrows and the songbirds

by Anonymous



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, and the others letting him know they're there, just jisung burning out for a bit, mild sickness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23047570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "self-preservation is not one of your strong suits, huh?" minho's voice echoes softly in his ears, and it should be annoying at best but it clears the fog in his head.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 3
Kudos: 166
Collections: Anonymous





	the sparrows and the songbirds

funny enough, it's the chorus of day6's somehow that snaps jisung out of his haze at exactly 2:13 am. 

why exactly he'd set an alarm for 2:13 am is beyond him because he doesn't even remember doing it, but the song is definitely a mark left by seungmin at some point. jisung vaguely remembers giving seungmin his password at some point last week, though maybe it hadn't been the best idea. 

it's at 2:17 am that jisung finally finds the will to push aching limbs out of their cramped position on the studio chair and zip up his bag slowly before he slings it over his shoulders and walks stiffly to the elevator. 

the building is dark, and nearly empty, and honestly quite depressing if he's being honest. the elevator seems to groan as it climbs down the floors and settles with a shaky thud that doesn't have jisung missing it when he steps out, rather quickly at that. 

the chilly winter wind pricks pins at his face, leaving him cherry-cheeked and watery-eyed as he walks home slowly. 

despite the cold (and the fact that he's somehow forgotten his jacket in the studio upstairs), the walk is soothing. it's quiet, something jisung doesn't get to experience a lot these days, and for the first time in a long time his brain doesn't feel like it's boiling over. 

there's the sharp line of a headache beginning to brew in his temples, but he chooses to ignore it. it would only be so long before the cold seungmin brought home would eventually make its way to him, anyways. he knows he's next in line, so he's given up trying to convince himself that sneaking into changbin's stash of vitamins will somehow prevent it. 

seoul's streets are empty and lamplit, casting shadows in the yellow glare of the street lights. there's the occasional bus horn that honks, or the bright yellow taxi that whizzes past him here and there. the skyscrapers far behind him twinkle red and blue lights as he waits for the crosswalk sign to turn white, looming up over the horizon line behind him. 

seoul at night is peaceful. there's no busy lines of traffic, no constant buzz of conversation or groups of people hurrying to catch the subway or make it to work on time. jisung's chest feels open now, not constricted like he's gotten used to these days.

jisung knows he's going to get chewed out both by chan and the manager when he makes it back to the dorm, by chan for staying later than he'd promised and by his manager for walking home alone in the dark when he knows it isn't safe. but the burden of remembering things seems to have floated away right now, so the scolding is the least of his worries as he crosses the street and their dorm building comes into view. 

the doorknob gives under his fingers when he twists it without any effort, and he makes a note to clap back at chan by telling him that he didn't lock the door, either. he's got the slightest inkling that it was intentionally done for him, though. 

the air in the dorm is _stale_. 

jisung almost misses the outside wind when the door thumps shut behind him, despite the dorm being significantly warmer. it's so ironic that despite the outside being so obviously empty and the dorm being filled with people, he feels so much lonelier now that he's home. 

"jisungie?" 

jisung snaps up to find chan--and seungmin peeking over chan's shoulder--standing in the doorway of the living room. he searches chan's face for disappointment, annoyance, maybe wear, but all he gets is clear concern twinkling in his eyes. 

"how are you feeling?" 

jisung blinks. that is not what he'd been expecting. not at all, actually. he'd been expecting something like, 'why are you home so late' or 'i told you to look out for the time' or 'jisung, this is unacceptable'. 

"...what?" 

chan moves forward so he's completely in the light, his jaw set and his lips pressed thin. seungmin hovers behind, his expression also clearly worried. 

"jeongin--he said you were warm this morning," chan says softly, reaching towards jisung despite being nowhere near arm's reach. "he was worried about you today. especially since you never came home." 

there it is. the guilt-trip. all of a sudden jisung's headache seems to flare twice as much as it had been five minutes ago and the ache in his limbs becomes all the more obvious. he doesn't know what it is about chan, but all of a sudden he wants to fall into a heap on the floor and just...cry himself to sleep. he'd been holding up so well and then chan had to show up with his big worried eyes and stupidly concerned question--and he'd rather have chan yell at him than look at him with the amount of pity he is right now. 

"...sungie?" 

jisung hadn't even realized that seungmin had walked up to him. the younger boy lays a hand on jisung's cheek and pulls away quickly, lips turning down. "he's still warm." 

chan lets out a puff of air through the side of his mouth. "i figured." 

"hey, jisungie, can you look at me for a sec?" 

jisung finds it incredibly hard to hold his head up all of a sudden, but he obliges chan when the older takes his hands and holds them gently. and then suddenly the room tilts on its axis and his knees seem to turn to liquid, because he stumbles and he's sure if seungmin hadn't been behind him he'd have fallen backwards and cracked his head open. 

"woah, easy--jesus, jisung, you're burning up," chan and seungmin straighten him simultaneously, holding him upright. 

it's so odd because just a few minutes ago he could've sworn he was _fine_. he'd walked all the way home with no issues--maybe it's the fact that the amount of concern he's currently being shown is pushing at his walls because they're _cracking_. 

"i...am?" jisung blinks. 

"okay, here, let's--let's sit down," seungmin suggests, pulling them gently to the couch. jisung hadn't realized how good it would feel to finally sit, but the plush cushions sinking under his weight give him relief that he hadn't thought he needed. 

"grab the thermometer, will you?" jisung hears chan say quietly. 

but it's like he's floating underwater now. everything seems strangely echo-y and far away, and his brain seems to have turned to cotton. he barely registers seungmin sticking the device under his tongue, nor the murmured conversation when it's pulled back out again. nor does he register it when a third person walks into the room. 

"i'll be right back," he hears from chan, and then suddenly someone's crouching in front of him and he blinks hazily into minho's line of sight. 

"hey, sungie," minho says, smiling softly at him. "heard you're not doing so great tonight." 

it doesn't even sit with jisung that it's two in the morning, that he should be questioning why the hell minho is awake--or rather why the hell any of them are awake. it's almost sad that the second he hears minho speak, the second he sees minho's face in front of his, he feels his last grip on himself loosen and then he's welling up for absolutely no reason at all.

maybe it's because it's late. or maybe it's because he's just so damn tired. or maybe it's because minho's looking at him with so much genuineness that his insides melt a little further. 

"jis--no, jisungie, why're you crying, love?" minho seems to panic a bit and that just makes jisung cry harder, and then he's being enveloped into a hug that smells like artificial peach conditioner. "hey, it's okay, i'm here," minho rubs his back gently, letting him cry into his shoulder for literally no reason. 

"oh--oh no, what happened?" 

that's seungmin's voice. he doesn't catch minho's answer, nor does he care to, because all he knows is that he's exhausted and his head is pounding and all he wants is to sleep for a long, long time. 

and then jisung is being moved--helped down the hallway and lowered onto a bed, and the scent of peaches comes down with him. 

"self-preservation is _not_ one of your strong suits, huh?" minho's voice echoes softly in his ears, and it should be annoying at best but it clears the fog in his head. 

"don't cry, love," minho says finally, rubbing at the stray tears on jisung's cheeks with the sleeve of his shirt. jisung recognizes it, it's their concert shirt. "you're gonna be just fine." 

and jisung doesn't know whether to ask minho how he knows that or how he could possibly be sure, but there's a sort of warmth in his voice that's reassuring enough for him to believe the older boy. 

he feels lips brush over his forehead quickly before minho's warmth is gone, and suddenly jisung is cold again. but it's only a few minutes before minho returns with a giant fluffy blanket jisung hadn't even known they'd had. 

"we can talk when you're feeling better," minho says, holding out the blanket. "for now, let's sleep."

and yeah, jisung will definitely get his ear talked off about this once he's no longer feverishly out of it, but for now he doesn't mind letting minho maneuver him under the blanket and then feeling him slip in next to jisung. 

and he definitely doesn't appreciate waking up to jeongin blinking at him two inches away from his face, but it's out of love. 

and if minho shakes his head fondly and presses a kiss to the corner of jisung's mouth, no one has to know but the sparrows and the doves. 

(and seungmin spying on them through the crack in the door, but some things are better left unsaid.) 

**Author's Note:**

> i need to STOP with the word vomits :-)


End file.
